


Starstruck

by not_quite_anonymous



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, Oikawa being a space nerd and also far too relatable, Stargazing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:54:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26956891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/not_quite_anonymous/pseuds/not_quite_anonymous
Summary: Oikawa loves stars and Iwaizumi loves Oikawa.Or, two volleyball dorks go stargazing.
Relationships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru
Comments: 12
Kudos: 67





	Starstruck

**Author's Note:**

> i have no excuse i just wanted some self indulgent iwaoi fluff... hope you enjoy!

“So… why are we out here again?”

Iwaizumi found himself being dragged out of his house at 10pm on a school night by Oikawa, an event that he wished he wasn't so familiar with. He grumbled and complained every time, but still wound up slipping on his worn leather jacket and out the door whenever he received the “ _'im coming over in 5 minutes meet me outside! :P_ ” text. 

Oikawa huffed and rolled his eyes. “I’ve already told you a million times, there’s a meteor shower tonight and I can’t miss it.”

“I don’t recall you ever saying anything like that to me. Pretty sure you just barged into my room and kidnapped me tonight with no explanation.”

That wasn’t strictly true. Iwaizumi vaguely recalled Oikawa talking about some sort of one-in-every-two-hundred-years meteor shower while the two of them walked home one day after practice, but he had dismissed it as some kind of alien thing again. After years of walking to and from school together, Iwaizumi had learned to tune out most of Oikawa’s ramblings while carefully paying just enough attention to nod every once in a while and make it seem like he was listening.

He would never let Oikawa know that he secretly loved how passionate he got, loved how his eyes would light up and his hands would gesture in the air wildly. He usually loved hearing Oikawa’s melodic voice, but sometimes it was just a little _much_ , especially when the topics were usually exclusively volleyball or aliens.

“It wasn’t kidnapping, Iwa-chan! You were late, I had no other choice! Besides, I even said hi to your mom, and she just told us to have fun.”

“That’s because she loves you and knows that nobody will tell you no, Shittykawa.”

“Except for you.”

Iwaizumi only hummed in agreement. He knew Oikawa was trying to be sarcastic, but it had a kernel of truth to it. When everyone else saw Oikawa, they saw some perfect “Grand King”, with an unshakable demeanor and a model-worthy appearance. In some ways, they were right: Oikawa was unfairly good looking (only objectively, of course), captain of a prestigious volleyball team, and had people who were disgustingly in awe of him. He knew that he could get anything he wanted with a wink and a smile, and often took advantage of that. 

But the one person that it didn’t work on was Iwaizumi. They had known each other for too long, seen each other through too much. Iwaizumi knew that Oikawa’s hair wasn’t some magical gravity-defying miracle and that in the mornings he had a bedhead that rivalled the captain of Nekoma’s. He was quite possibly the only person who was willing to call Oikawa out on his bullshit, or put his foot down and tell him enough is enough. From an outsider’s perspective he knew he came off as rude, but in reality he just didn’t know how else to care for someone as incredibly egotistical yet self destructive as Oikawa. If he had to be rude to get through to him, then so be it.

“Why did you need me to come anyway? I was in the middle of studying for biology. Besides, I’m sure you’re a big boy and can handle going outside by yourself.”

“Look at me, Iwa-chan! Pretty boy like me, if I went to a park by myself at night, nobody could resist kidnapping me.”

“They’d be doing us all a favour,” Iwaizumi muttered.

Of course, he didn’t mean it. As much as he put up this facade of blunt irritability, he knew that if Oikawa ever really disappeared from his life, he would be devastated. He didn’t know if that feeling was love, but he knew that he couldn’t lose Oikawa.

“Mean!” Oikawa gasped. “All I wanted was to go stargazing with my best friend and you treat me like this? _Mean_.”

Oikawa had always loved the stars. There was something fascinating about being able to see far off galaxies, distant specks of light that were in all reality huge masses of hydrogen and helium collapsing in on themselves, particles fusing together and letting off such huge amounts of energy that they were able to be seen all the way from Earth. And yeah, maybe he was just a little bit of a nerd.

“When is this ‘meteor shower’ of yours going to start then?” Iwaizumi put the words “meteor shower” in finger quotes.

“It’s a real thing! And probably soon, it’s nearly 10:30.”

The two boys settled in the grass. Oikawa had packed a blanket because he didn’t want his clothes to get dirty or stained, but when Iwaizumi laid down without hesitation he couldn’t do anything but follow suit, lest he be teased for the rest of the night. The October air was just starting to have that signature autumn chill in the air, crisp and reminiscent of leaves crunching under boots and mugs of hot cocoa clutched in gloved hands. Iwaizumi stifled a small yawn, but Oikawa just stared wide eyed at the sky, foot bouncing, anticipation and excitement clear in his features. 

There had been many late nights where he had stayed up, but instead of watching the stars he had been watching volleyball matches, perched on the edge of his bed in his ratty alien pyjamas, blanket wrapped around his shoulders, the light emitting from his laptop screen burning into his retinas until he could see the images still imprinted on the backs of his eyelids when he blinked. His eyes would flit across the screen, absorbing strategies and making notes of what might work with his own team. Sometimes he would call Iwaizumi, eager to discuss a new play or just gush over another team’s skill, only to get chewed out about how late it was and how he needed to go the hell to sleep. Many nights he would find himself absentmindedly pressing replay, or next video, until it was an unreasonable hour in the morning and his eyelids drooped like weights were tied to them.

On these nights when he was alone, only the stars would be his companions. He loved these nights, when the air was quiet and it felt like the whole world stood still except for him and the stars. The stars never yelled at him, or forced unreasonably high expectations on him, or betrayed him. They simply twinkled where they were, providing silent support and solidarity, making Oikawa feel just a bit less alone.

Of course, Oikawa knew he wasn’t really alone. He had a veritable fan club filled with girls lining up to date him or even talk to him. He had an amazing volleyball team and teammates who he knew inside and out and viewed as family. He wasn’t captain for nothing, he knew that the others looked up to him and admired the way that he set to match his spikers precisely. What they didn’t know were the hours of literal blood, sweat, and tears. They saw the daylight victories, but not the nights spent looking up serving techniques instead of sleeping or early mornings spent in the gym listening to the rhythmic thud of volleyballs hitting the floor over and over again until his palm stung and his fingertips were swollen. 

He never knew when to stop pushing himself. He needed to be better, to do more, to prove to everyone else that he was the best. He forced himself to practice late into the night, promising himself just one more, then just one more after that. What was he worth if he couldn’t even get his serve right?

His resolve never failed him, but eventually his body did.

He knew he couldn’t do anymore, could hear his knee and lungs begging him to stop, but he would push through, until his body broke down around him over and over again. In these instances, Iwaizumi would be there to pick him up without fail, to bring him a water bottle or a bandage, to chide him lightly or to simply sit silently with him while Oikawa wept, raged at the world for not letting him reach his dreams in his final year of high school, all his hopes shattered to pieces under the heels of a black and orange haired duo. He had worked so hard for so long, had tied his identity to his sport, had given up so much just to be crushed at the finish line.

It wasn’t _fair_. It wasn’t fair that he could never have the talent that seemed to come so naturally to others. It wasn’t fair that nothing he did ever seemed to be right, that even his best efforts weren’t enough. He just wasn’t enough.

“Hey, what are you thinking about?” Iwaizumi’s voice was gruff but there was a concerned undertone to his words.

“Nothing to worry your thick head about,” Oikawa replied breezily, although the words caught in his throat just a little bit. He was far too used to these little concealments. 

Iwaizumi, of course, saw right through it. “Come on, Shittykawa.”

“Just… the Karasuno match again. Doesn’t it make you angry that we’ll never get to go to nationals, but that little upstart Tobio-chan will? We promised each other to make it to nationals every year since we both made it onto the volleyball team, and now that’ll never happen…”

Iwaizumi’s green eyes hardened and there was steel in his voice when he spoke. He knew that Oikawa held himself to the highest standards and was so not used to failure that the loss against Karasuno dealt a crippling blow to his fragile self esteem. Although Oikawa projected himself as confident to the point where even he himself began to believe it, Iwaizumi knew it was an act to hide his own self doubt.

“There’s still university. And pro volleyball after that. It’s not over just yet, don’t you dare think it’s over.”

_I will be here for you until the very end_ were the unspoken words in his head.

Oikawa silently turned away and curled onto his side.

The silence was suffocating, broken only by the faint noises of crickets and distant cars. Oikawa closed his eyes.

Stars made Oikawa feel so small, so insignificant, but there was a strange comfort in that. If things as massive and important as stars could look so small in this huge sprawling universe, maybe Oikawa didn’t matter as much. It didn’t matter if he had to work twice as hard to reach his goals as anyone else, or if he was made fun of daily for being shallow and dumb, or if his best friend who he was in love with didn’t love him back. It didn’t matter that he had lost his last chance to go to nationals, even if it felt like his world was ending. After spending all day being a big personality, flirting and laughing and playing intensely, he needed to let himself feel small and unimportant. The stars reminded him that if they could carry on existing, so could he. 

“Aren’t they pretty, Iwa-chan?” Oikawa breathed.

_Not as much as you._

The sky spread above him was clear and chock full of stars. Oikawa shivered a bit, not from the cold, but from the sheer sense of awe and wonder. Iwaizumi must have misinterpreted though, because he grunted and shoved his jacket towards the brunet. 

“Don’t freeze to death, I don’t want to have to explain to your parents or our coach.”

“Don’t worry, Iwa-chan.” Oikawa wasn’t cold, but he took it anyway. The brown leather was warm and smelled good, like a mix of spices and tea.

Iwaizumi didn’t want to admit that the sight of Oikawa in his jacket made his chest clench and stomach warm.

Just as Oikawa was starting to relax into it and settle more into the grass, he was shocked into sitting up straight again when he saw a thin streak of white light up the sky.

“Iwa-chan! Look! It’s really a meteor shower!”

“Isn’t that the entire reason you came out here, dumbass?”

The meteors fell like diamonds around them, streaking white and blue across the sky, weaving between other stars before fizzling out, the rocks burning up in the atmosphere in a glorious display, a private show just for the two of them. 

“Yes, but they’re so much prettier than I expected…”

Stars were a way for Oikawa to peer into the past, to look to and think about how that light had travelled hundreds of light years just to reach his eyes, twinkling innocently and falling around him on the inky backdrop of the sky.

But right now, all he wanted to do was focus on the present, on the incredible feeling of watching the meteor shower above him. Oikawa turned his head to point out an especially bright one to Iwaizumi, only to find that he was looking back at Oikawa, not up at the sky. The intensity of his stare made Oikawa’s heart stumble in his chest, and he forgot what he was about to say.

“... Iwa-chan?”

Iwaizumi just turned back to watching the sky nonchalantly, while Oikawa admired his side profile, openly ogling his strong jawline, gently sloping nose, thick eyebrows permanently drawn into a scowl, and thin downturned lips. 

Oikawa’s heart raced as he forced himself to look away. He’d been in love with Iwaizumi for years, maybe since he had first met him. He had first realized his feelings after they won their last game of middle school with a perfect set and spike, when Iwaizumi had immediately looked to him with the most fierce look of pride he had ever seen and Oikawa wanted to grab him and kiss him. Maybe he wasn’t quite as straight as he thought.

It had only been downhill from there. Seeing him in the locker room was torture, and it didn’t help that they were so used to each other that Iwaizumi often walked around shirtless when Oikawa was over. As well, their closeness made it impossible for Oikawa to avoid him or act any different without Iwaizumi noticing, so he just had to grit his teeth and try not to stare _too_ openly. Thankfully though, if he ever was caught he could always just play up his flirty personality and make it as over the top and theatrical as he could, draping himself over Iwaizumi’s arms and declaring that his biceps were the finest things he had ever seen (he didn’t need to lie for that one).

Nobody had suspected a thing, except maybe Hanamaki and Matsukawa, but they were always too perceptive for their own good. Oikawa had just carried around this burden with him for years, this secret knowledge that he was in love with his best friend. And he never expected anything to come out of it.

Until… now? Oikawa felt a brief brush of skin against his pinky finger. He laid still, tensing his muscles and trying to figure out if that was just a fluke or maybe Iwaizumi just moving around. But no, there it was again. An unmistakable brush of soft, warm skin. Excruciatingly slowly, Oikawa reached and slid his pinky around Iwaizumi’s, like he was making him a promise. 

He was sure that they must have held hands before when they were kids, Oikawa dragging Iwaizumi along to explore or showing him how to set a volleyball, but as they grew up it became seen as weirder for the two teenage boys to be as close as they were. Hand holding turned into wrist grabbing, then sleeve tugging, and eventually just… nothing. 

But now… a single linked pinky turned into curious fingers roaming the palm of his hand, then a thumb pressed to his pulse point, feeling the erratic beating of Oikawa’s heart. Finally, their hands were pressed together, fingers interlocked. Warm skin, every inch tingling. The simple motion felt both brand new and incredibly nostalgic. It had no right to be as exhilarating as it was, considering Oikawa had gone much further with girls and hell, other guys too. But this was different, this was _his Iwa-chan_.

Oikawa couldn’t pay attention to the meteor shower anymore, all of his focus going instead to the tiny piece of his body where Iwaizumi was pressed against him. There were the hands that had served and set countless balls, holding the ones who had received and spiked all of them. Oikawa’s hands had written essays, waved through the air wildly while he was talking about aliens, and were roughly calloused from daily wear and tear. And yet although they had done and were capable of doing so many things, Oikawa felt like this was exactly what they were meant to do instead, to be held by Iwaizumi under a starlit sky. 

The stars watched on as the two smitten boys laid on the field in the middle of the night, holding hands until far beyond when the last falling meteor had faded away.

Oikawa Tooru loves the stars.

But he thinks that he loves Iwaizumi Hajime a whole lot more.

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you enjoyed this little oneshot! comment or leave kudos if you'd like :)
> 
> \--
> 
> come talk to me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/c4tboykei)!


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